Amelie Nothomb. “What is most Japanese about me? I avoid conflict situations.

As we know, Japan is Amelie Nothomb’s favorite country. This is where he spent his early childhood until he was 5 years old. There too, where he returned at the age of 21 to intern as a translator and encounter an extremely rigid corporate culture, a stifling hierarchy and many humiliations; Stupidity and convulsionspublished in 1999

But despite the disappointment, Amelie Nothomb never stopped loving Japan, its myths, its legends, the creatures that inhabit its religions. He takes us to meet them Japan, flowers of the floating world, a 10-episode podcast co-written with Laureline Amanieux, available on the Audible platform. An immersive journey into the heart of Japanese spirituality where his voice blends with the sounds of a Zen garden or prayers to tell stories of ghosts, gods and witches. He also shares his childhood and teenage memories. An intimate and passionate audio documentary.

In the video, Amélie Nothomb takes us on a journey into the heart of Japanese mythology

Camis and leggings

Mrs. Figaro: What do you have to do with Japanese mythology?
Amelie Nothomb. Japanese mythology is the most important to me because it was the first thing I was told. When I was little, I was brought up by a nanny named Nichio-san; she was a very simple woman, without scholarship, who taught me what we teach little Japanese children. I think of Yamamba, the witch of the mountain. In France, people would talk to me about the Karabos fairy. But Yamamba is much more important to me.

What do you like so much about this approach to spirituality?
What I love is how composite it is. No myth, no religious revelation contradicts the others. Here’s how the myths of Stoicism interact with Buddhist or Zen interpretations, and it all goes together very well. If someone were to reach out to the Japanese, saying: “No, reject all these mythologies, the only good religion is Christianity,” they would find that insane barbarism.

You dedicate one of the episodes to kami, the Shinto deities that we meet almost everywhere…
Shintoism is based on one great idea: all that is beautiful is God, and preferably that beauty is in nature. So there are absolutely countless kami, the kami of the spring, the kami of the forest, the stones… I really like this vision of the world, the idea that everything there is sacred.

Do you have a favorite character in Japanese mythology?
It’s quite difficult because there are so many of them. My answer may not be very mysterious, but it fits perfectly with Shintoism. it is Yamamba, the famous mountain witch. He is not at all a beautiful and lovable person. he has an annoying tendency to get everyone he meets to make soup. So if you don’t want to end up in a soup, don’t hike alone in the mountains of Japan.

Think about the moment

What are these? “flowers of the floating world“, who lends their title to the podcast?
It is an overview of the haiku of the most famous haiku artist of all time, Matsuo Basho. This translates to the idea of ​​the beauty of the ephemeral, that all the value of life lies in those fleeting moments that absolutely must be captured. A bit like the Japanese translation of our carpe diem.

Does it mean exactly the same thing?
No, “carpe diem” is a really nice phrase. The flowers of the floating world in Japan are much more delicate, more fleeting. it’s not necessarily holding something and enjoying it, but actually holding it to think. It can simply be, for example, the passage of a few drops of rain.

How can Shinto help us live better? Especially for us Westerners who do not know him well.
We need deities to say very simple things. you go to the subway, you meet a person of great beauty, you are struck, it is your day, and you say to yourself: “I met God or Goddess in the subway.” I think it’s an enchanting idea of ​​life that brings out its magic.

We must first remember this basic idea of ​​Shintoism. all that is beautiful is God

Amelie Nothomb

You also mention the concept of purification in Shintoism. Is it more readily available in this culture than in the West?
In the West, purification is always associated with sin, guilt; you have to sink into it to get out of it. Meanwhile, life in Japan is like that. should be cleaned regularly. That’s why Shinto temples are nearby. You go there, take the small bamboo ladle that is near the fountain, take a few sips of the donated drink, and voilà, you allow yourself to be cleansed. It really does a lot of good.

What if you don’t have a Shinto temple handy?
We can decide for ourselves where the holy is. One of the Shinto symbols is the torii, this big red door that you place in absolutely nowhere and that signals that you are entering the sacred. You don’t have to build one in your garden, but you can have a sacred place in your home or anywhere. When we enter it, we begin a process of meditation and purification. And nothing can touch us anymore.

“A failed Japanese”.

In the podcast, you go back to your childhood memories and say that you are a “failed Japanese»…
I left Japan when I was 5 years old, and at that time, believe me, I was completely Japanese. When I returned there at the age of 21, it was a little late. I wanted to make up for lost time, it was a fascinating experience that brought me a lot, but I didn’t succeed. This is what I say in my novel. Stupidity and convulsions. But many things remain Japanese in me.

For example?
I am lost in a conflict situation, while the French like it. They differ in their opinions, especially around the table. immediately a controversy arises, the tone rises, and everyone gives their little eloquence. In these cases, I am a true Japanese. I become very small because what we are looking for there is harmony. If you notice that your neighbor at the table does not think like you, be careful not to offend him. It has been observed that moving to Japan often forces people to convert to a new religion. it’s not about giving up the old one at all, but if they discover, for example, that their new neighbor is Catholic, they’re going to convert. so as not to make him uncomfortable.

You also explain in the podcast that you can convert to several different religions in your lifetime…
It’s not even about changing them, it’s about accumulating them. For example, Japanese people today are born into Shintoism, marry into Catholicism because they think it’s more fun, the big white dress, etc., and die into Zen Buddhism. It is not at all about opposing the beliefs of his birth, marriage or death. But arrange them in such a way that they behave well together. I think it’s an example of tolerance that needs to be addressed.

Arm yourself against violence

In myth, both Eastern and Western, female deities are often subjected to great violence, bloodshed, rape, or otherwise. How does this affect our understanding of these issues?
It is certain that the violence of myth infuses the end, and that all these founding stories told to us both in the West and in the Far East affect us. Unfortunately, I’m afraid these myths tell us the truth. it is still true today that life is especially harsh for women. So, faced with this violence, there are two schools. or we protect children from violence by saying: “You will see, the world is wonderful, life is very beautiful.” Or we adopt the other approach, which is more ancestral both here and in Japan. we tell children stories to teach them that violence exists and that there are great dangers. So they are armed at a very young age against those they risk meeting along the way. It’s cathartic.

Ryuichi Sakamoto, the great genius of Japanese music, He disappeared on March 28. Did you know and like his music?
Ryuichi Sakamoto’s death made me very sad. First of all because he is a great musician. But also because it’s such a beautiful actor who played it Furio (1993), the role of this Japanese soldier who has a strange relationship with David Bowie. It’s a movie that marked me very strongly when I was a teenager. At the same time, the Japanese have a fairly healthy view of death. And I tell myself that he is not inaccessible to us, wherever he is.